Ringitsneck

Not a hope in hell of that team fitting 35 point limit.

Great news that we are going full on in the NL full rather than just the cup competition and I appreciate we need to balance the team with the number of local untried youngsters in there but Max Clegg should not be in there. Nothing against the lad but he’s been riding as a professional for about nine years, he was in the Elite league draft system in 2014 and he is way too good for the NL. Add the fact that the pressure of doing the previous championship match and then being expected to clean up doing another 5 rides afterwards is just too much to put on him. This is supposed to be a development division , he isn’t going to learn anything that he doesn’t already know. Yes, he will be a big scoring number 1 but isn’t the point of the exercise to give new youngsters opportunities ? There are bound to be clashes of fixtures away from home so he will miss meetings anyway and there won’t be many 10-11 point averaged guests knocking about! I know we need a competitive team but there’s room there to bring in two less experienced 5-6 pointers who , with the reduced standard, will become the next generation of heat leaders.The likes of Josh Embleton will double his average based on that so let’s look around at the least experienced lads out there. Id throw in the name of the likes of Greg Blair who is on the comeback. Seen him at Redcar in 2020 and he’s already on the pace, he’s experienced enough and has been unlucky with injuries and don't think he’s actually ever had a full season under his belt . He’ll score points and be entertaining to watch and he’d be an ideal rider to step up into the diamonds side if required!

That’s fine. I obviously won’t reveal the source but they can’t keep everybody happy, not even the rest of the promoters but it’s all ‘ in the best interests of the sport ‘ as they like to say !

So now do you believe a ‘ meeting ‘ took place ?

All this discussion is very well but the bottom line is, as openly acknowledged by Mr. Rees, there will be no speedway at Odsall until someone with a substantial amount of money is willing to pay their share of the rent, and pay for any additional work to be done to cater solely for speedways needs. We can discuss the merits of the stadium until the pandemic is just a paragraph in the history books but despite a number of tentative enquiries no person has has come forward to do that and so no speedway at Odsal. Whilst I hope that changes in the future I simply don’t see that happening now or even next year .

So ‘ in the interests of the sport ‘ throw the rule book out of the window and do what you want. oh hang on ?..... I love the sport but even I , after 50 plus years of following it, am embarrassed to try to explain to a non speedway person how a rider can ride for 2 teams ( and sometimes 3 ) and a man who is in his mid twenties and ridden for several seasons is classed as a ‘ young rising star’ to get him a team place at his uncles club . Then add so and so belongs to that club but he has to go and ride for a rival club because they picked him first! These are just example ps of many idiotic decisions made by the people in charge lately.

That’s 5 clubs but Buster owns 2 ( or is it still 3 of them ? ) and he bought those clubs to keep the premiership going so he isn’t going to upset the Bates as he still wants to keep it going. We all know the scheme was ‘widened’ to keep certain people happy, just another case of ‘ best interests of the sport ‘ . It was and is a good idea but very badly mis managed.

Championship promoters aren’t allowed to vote on premiership matters therefore you are incorrect regarding other promoters in the league. Basically if Buster agreed then decision made!

What’s the odds on either of those tracks staging the first meeting of the season ?

It’s looking like the ‘ amateurs ‘ will be required in the new lower standard NL and as for grass track in this country it’s dying. More than 50% of the competitors up north are on Moto x bikes and those few on proper grass track bikes most are aged 50 plus!

As it’s likely to be a short , sort of Mickey Mouse season then their gamble on going big might not cost them much especially if they draw a large crowd for the first few home matches. They’ve certainly created some news in dire times for the sport.

So you want a wage cap ( your point 3 ) but then want riders to earn a wage in one league? Can’t have both surely ? your other 6 points aren’t going to happen in our life time either unless there’s a total change at the top of speedway.

You been on the sauce again ? Your Mam has told you to stay off the white lightening now go to yer room.

I take it from your other comment that you know him well. I only mentioned him as I know he’s always appeared keen with decent equipment and unlike one or two we have had at Brough, in control ! I’m sure he would have got a NL place in the past but his age went against him, which is a shame as guys older than him have been included in teams as they were heat leader standard. Isn’t Ledworth at Kent around the same age? I do worry that a few will have been lost to the sport with the inactivity over the last 12 months.

I don’t think Dean is quite ready yet as his style is somewhat limited and he falls off too much but certainly Danny is definitely ready for NL. The few meetings I saw at Redcar in 2020 had a few who, even in the support class, could ride in a lower standard NL. There was the likes of Watson , Rothbury, Muff, even youngsters Goldsbrough, Lyden, the two ladies Gordon and Hellowell can control a bike well enough to be competitive.There are a few other Scottish based lads who didn’t appear in 2020 who rode in the NJL that would also be of the right standard. They do have to be able to race rather than just ride around the track ( wobblers ). There was one or two ‘ old uns ‘ that might be interested if it wasn’t too competitive and you only needed one bike, the likes of Turner, Mudgway , Blair and possibly Parr who could fill in if required. Just depends where they want the standard or even age ( I hate the age thing as some lads don’t take it up till later on in life ) . There used to be a good crop attend Scunthorpe meetings but they thinned out when they started doing 75 plus heats in a day without any track grading plus riding once each month didn’t really bring them on enough. A lower standard NL would offer them that opportunity if it was run right.

Six teams might be about right. The NL will lose around 10 riders to the ‘ rising star ‘ scheme then add a few who will have given up ,especially having not ridden in 2020 so there’s a wants list already never mind finding 21 additional riders. Most amateur riders are no where near ready to commit to league racing either through employment, lack of suitable equipment or funds. If we are to believe that expressions of interest from all these other clubs will result in several new teams then there’s going to be an issue. So unless the NL drops to almost an amateur standard then theres going to be a shortage . So 6 to 8 teams is about the maximum the NL can hope for and that will be at a much lower standard .

Despite what you might hear from THJ , there is no ‘opt out’ option. The riders had to return an email invitation sent to them, if they didn’t return it then they weren’t included on the list. Being as its speedway and therefore run unprofessionally , they didn’t send the email to everybody they should have done because that’s the way they operate.

If a ‘ meeting ‘ didn’t take place ( even if some individuals did not take part ) how do you think these decisions have been made ? Answer - because discussions have taken place. But whatever... As they are now struggling to fill teams in the championship this is bound to effect the make up of any NL division. Tonight’s news on travel restrictions is not going to make that any easier. Let’s hope the format of the NL doesn’t alter . Whilst there’s lots of talk I don’t expect to see more than one or two additions. I do hope to see a northern based side to give the youngsters up here something to aim for so let’s hope it comes off.

Or in other words.....be patient.

The ‘ new ‘ track will be completely new to any form of league speedway.....if they get a licence. They would replace a team who initially expressed interest in being in the NDL but may not now do so if this track gets the nod.

What accusation? I’m not suggesting he did anything illegal or immoral. They were his engines , he can do what he likes with them!

Gerhard wanted an investor to enlarge his capability of supplying the engines, the BSPA bit his hand off and handed over the £300,000 with the contract stating the BSPA would be the sole supplier and distributor with a guaranteed number of engines to the BSPA. 16 engines later they fall out over the slowness of production so no more engines , the BSPA management committee have now blown the sports coffers leaving them skint and grasping at straws to get their money back. Four years later, no more engines no sign of the cash coming back. Mr. Godfrey gave his last couple of those engines away to a certain junior rider he is courting for the future.

Well he has signed for two British clubs so think you might want to change your opinion. Slightly surprised that Redcar now have 4 ( Wright, Rowe, MPT and now Stewart ) doubling up riders possibly five ( Jenkins in the NL ) when speedway was supposed to be getting away from this situation. But not a bad team if they can capture a strong second string to finish the team off.

Read the words...not one he has attended...good spin on word play. Plus two other prominent individuals did not ‘ attend ‘ it either, one of them was not invited, says a lot.

One just makes things up the other just has a poor memory . I’m sure one of them will tell you which is which.